This document discusses strategies for effective brain-based learning and assessment. It explains that the brain has three main parts - the neocortex, limbic system, and reptilian complex - and learning is most effective when it engages both the logical neocortex and emotional limbic system. The teacher's role is to create learning experiences that elicit an emotional response. Some suggested activities include questioning techniques, competitions, debates, and self-assessments to engage students and provide feedback. The goal is frequent, formative assessment to identify gaps and misconceptions.

1. “Brain Based Learning” and
“Highly Effective Feedback and
Assessment Strategies”
By Glen Pearsall
(translated by Sun and Belinda)

2. Three parts of the brain …
The Neocortex is logical, sophisticated, thinking and reasoning.
The Limbic System deals with memory and emotion.
The Reptilian Complex is the instinctive part of the brain where
fight or flight decisions are made.
To learn we need to move students from thinking in the
Neocortex to the Limbic System because it helps students to
learn when they have a strong emotional connection.

3. So …
How do we move students
thinking from one part of the
brain to another ?

4. The role of the teacher …
To be a facilitator who creates opportunities,
learning experiences and activities that will
evoke an emotional response.
Give students with time to think and time to
reflect upon their answer or “to link and to
think”.
On average …
• Teachers wait 3-5 seconds for a response.
• 7 students answer 90% of the questions.

5. Questioning …
We need to ask good questions that …
provoke higher level thinking eg open questions
and inverted questions (giving them the answer
but asking them if they agree and why, eg rather
than asking
“John, is 7 a prime number ?”,
ask “John, 7 is a prime number,
can you tell me why ?

6. Survey STUDENTS
As simple as …
Reflection Time (discussions).
No more complicated than …
Reflection Sheet
1. What was the most significant lesson of the
week ?
2. What lesson did you enjoy ?
3. What do you think we will do next week ?

7. Survey YOURSELF
1. What do students know ?
2. What do they understand ?
3. Where do they make errors ?
4. Where do they have misconceptions ?
5. When are they not engaged ?
Knowing these answers enables us to provide
opportunities and activities that improve the
learning experience for students.

8. So …
What are those
opportunities, learning
experiences and activities ?

9. Competition …
Buzz Handy for times tables, prime
numbers, etc.
9 letter Like from the newspaper but a word
Word from the topic being covered
W T F
A A E
L L R

10. Cheat sheets
Ask students to write on ½ an A4 sheet all the notes they
think they would need in preparation for an assessment
task.
All sheets are then displayed and students can walk
around the room, reading each others’ sheets.
They then make a choice about which cheat sheet they
think is the best and put a sticky note onto it. By making a
choice it is tapping into the emotional part of their brain.
Glen then photocopies the top 4 student choices (onto 1
A4 sheet back to back) so all students have great notes to
study from. Interestingly, they have already done the hard
work as they have created their own sheet.

11. Line debate
Provide students with a topic (for example,
Democracy is the best form of government).
One side is affirmative, the other is negative.
Students all need to come up with an argument for
their side of the debate. They speak in turns, and if
their argument is acceptable to you, they get to
choose a team member from the other team to join
their side.
Students make an emotional attachment to their
side, and then have to change sides, and rethink
things.

12. Wordle
Provide students with a Wordle taken from an article
about a new topic you are introducing.
Ask students to work in small groups to determine what
the new unit is about, and then ask them to justify their
decisions.
Great for helping the less inclined student to tune in.
You can give them the article on the back, and then move
to discussing it.
Students can make a Wordle of their oral presentations,
and distribute it (helps tune some students in)

13. Up and Down
Ask students true/false or yes/no questions, and ask them to show
their response with thumbs up or down or by standing up and sitting
down.
For example, when discussing nouns, give them examples. Then
challenge them with words like sit, which could be a noun or a verb.
Ask students to explain their responses.
To make lots of these, ask students to take a piece of paper and write
one truth and one falsehood
about a topic. Read them to the group in
turn, and see if they can differentiate.
(note: the teacher must read them – do not ask
a student, as sometimes what is written not accurate).

14. Exacto
Ask students to record a 13 or 21 word summary
of what they have learned. This makes them
choose their words and refine their ideas.
Students can also write lists of concepts from
what they have learned, for example, a list of
inventions. It is great to then ask them to cut
their ideas into strips of paper and organise
them in order of importance ie the most to least
important inventions, or into time order.

15. Mini booklets
Take two A4 pieces of paper and fold them in
half, stapling in a spine.
Illustrate a book with what students see as the
key things students need to know from the unit.
Great for choices and for clarification of ideas.
Great for the most important quotes from a
book, or lines from a poem or scenes from a
play.
Remember that each page should be illustrated.

16. “Cold calling”
Do not be afraid to “cold call” students. They should get
used to being wrong.
If a students does not know an answer, ask two students
who do know, then ask the original students to choose
which answer they think was best. Choices again !!
OR ask the original student to rephrase the answer
OR ask them to provide an example.
Do not allow “glossing” when students
give half an answer and teachers ‘dress it up’
or accept it.

17. Race to the Bell
To fill small time spaces before the bell (6-7
minutes first time, but it gets quicker)
Students ask a question to the class on a given
topic. For example Colonial Australia (they must
know the answer too). If the question is
answered correctly, both students sit down. The
goal is to have the whole class sitting before the
bell goes.

18. Proofing Guarantee Sheet
Students assess their own work on a set of criteria.
Glen Pearsall uses …
• Shown all my working out
• Put the answer in its simplest form
• Answered all questions asked
• Checked calculations for simple errors
• Presented work clearly
At the end, he has a section where students sign …
“I have read my work and hereby testify that it meets the
above criteria”
It can then be checked by another student and co-signed.

19. I used to think …
Have students complete sentence strips with the
template being …
“I used to think _____________
but now I know_______________”

20. Fist to Five
An assessment of approximated confidence with a given topic
by raising their fingers (or fist).
0 = I have not mastered it at all
1 = I can sort of do it but need practice
2 = I can sort of do it
3 = I can do it in familiar situations
4 = I can do it in any situation
5 = I could show others how to do it
Teachers (or students) can outline what each “finger” means.
Students are signalling the extent of their learning.
Other variations are “Traffic Lights” and “Face Expression
Cards”.

21. The Worst Response in the World
Great for when students just will not do what
you are asking them to do (like check spelling).
Ask students to do the worst job possible. This
makes them evaluate what the best thing is (so
they can do the opposite).
The difference between playing naughts and
crosses to WIN, and playing it to LOSE. Creates a
shift from reactive response to mindful
response.

22. KW(H) L Chart
What I Know What I Want to How will I find it What I have
know out ? Learned

23. So …
What do they know ?

24. We should assess …
Every lesson not at the end of each unit or term.
Assessment must be Fast, Formative and Frequent.
But how can we do that ?
Many of the activities already mentioned are great
for assessment …
but we also need to be mindful of …

25. Ambush Criteria
We should make sure students know our
learning intention and criteria for success
BEFORE the lesson.
Give example to draw a …
Is it fair ?
How do we get around this ?

26. Step Ladder Rubric
Provide students with a partly filled in rubric and
ask them to define the blanks. This requires
them to actually read and comprehend the
criteria. It helps avoid the student who leaves
out an entire section.
For example …
High Medium Low Not submitted

27. Rewrite criteria …
Students rewrite given criteria as questions …
For example,
“Correct spelling”
becomes
“Did I use correct spelling ?”

28. And …
What about their
misconceptions ?

29. How can we tell where the gaps are ?
One of the most challenging things is getting students to
indicate their misconceptions. We can’t ask “What are your
misconceptions ?” because if they knew what they were, they
wouldn’t be misconceptions.
There are three feedback strategies that help students
recognise and address their misconceptions.
1. Show them exemplary work = seeing excellence.
2. Have an interim submission date (this is where you assess
Hattie and Timperley’s Four Levels of Feedback – A to C.
At the end assess D.
3. Ask them to define what an excellent answer should have.

30. Other ways to work out
misconceptions …
• Sequence Strips (already covered)
• Speed Sequence Game (give students three minutes to
rewrite the steps of a process for an audience of peers
(students from a year level below are great). Students
can then compare their lists of steps with the person
next to them and give a further one minute to revise
their list before submitting.
• Exact Summary (similar to “Exacto” but where students
have to summarise the key learning/idea from a topic
that has been studied in a certain number of words (21
works best).

31. Great references
• “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Charles Kahneman
• “Classroom Dynamics”
• “Inside the Black Box” by Dylan Williams and Paul
Black
• Dr Judy Willis’ webinar “Working Memory”
• “The Power of Feedback” Hattie and Timperlay
• Classroom Dynamics on tln.org.au